10 SIGNS THAT YOU ATTEND A GREAT CHURCH

From ChurchLeaders.Com comes this important checklist which originated with Greg Stier of Dare@Share, a great youth ministry resource. - STEVE

When you're plugged into a church that's focused on the things of God, you can tell the difference.

I love the church. She is Christ’s bride and the key to cultural transformation. In that sense, every church is great. But let’s be honest, there are a ton of churches that leave much to be desired when it comes to truly making a difference in their congregations and communities. So, when you plug into a church that is getting it done, it’s a true blessing.

Of course there are no perfect churches, but there are many that are pressing toward the high water mark we see in Scripture.

Here are 10 signs you may be going to a great local church:

1. It is lead by a team of godly leaders not a Lone Ranger pastor who gathers Tonto-type leaders around him to say “Yes, Kemo Sabe” to his each and every idea (Titus 1:5-9).
2. The Gospel is central to every sermon, program and meeting (1 Corinthians 15:3,4) and the advancement of it both locally and globally drive strategic initiatives (Acts 1:8).
3. People are using their spiritual gifts not just watching the “stage team” exercise theirs (1 Corinthians 12:12-31), resulting in disciples being made and multiplied (2 Timothy 2:2).
4. It, like the early church, is integrated, fully representing the demographic of the community in which it resides (Ephesians 2:11-21). By the way, my buddy Derwin Gray has got a lot of great material (blogs, sermons, etc.) on this particular point.
5. Love, demonstrating itself in friendliness, generosity, internal/external care programs and community involvement, dominates the atmosphere (1 Corinthians 13:1-8).
6. Most likely there is a thriving small group program where members truly can have great biblical conversations, share struggles and pray with/for each other (James 5:16).
7. The people are being inspired and equipped to share their faith relationally, resulting in more and more new believers being added to the church (Acts 2:47).
8. The teaching/preaching is biblical, theological and immensely practical (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 4:1-4).
9. Ministry to children and teenagers are top priorities, not afterthoughts (Titus 2:1-8; Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
10. Intercessory prayer fuels everything. It’s the engine, not the caboose, of how the church rolls from top to bottom (1 Timothy 2:1-8).
These are 10 signs you may be going to a great church. What are some other signs?  
© 2014 Dare 2 Share Ministries. Used by permission.

RETHINK - MAKING A CULTURE SHIFT

 BY STEVE DUNN

The move from being a traditional and inward-focused church to an outward focused one requires a culture shift. As this is played out in the first decades of the 21st century it is done so against the backdrop of the shift in our nation from a churched culture to what some have called a post-Christian one. In particular, within the church you find yourself moving from a membership culture to a discipleship one. In a recent church council training session, I spoke of it in this way:

Rethink

Rethink who you are as a Christ-follower and as a leader

Don’t go to church - BE the Church

DISCIPLES not members

EXPECT something from God

REINVEST in ministry

ACT intergenerationally

ADVOCATE the Vision

GIVE to God first and give more

STOP pleasing people and please God

EMBRACE excellence and reject perfectionism

STOP saying me and proclaim we

(c) 2013 by Stephen L Dunn

WHY AN OUTWARD FOCUS FOR THE CHURCH?

 BY STEVE DUNN

"The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost." - Jesus

 
"The experience that a transformation of all human life is given in the fact that "Jesus is there only for others." His "being there for others" is the experience of transcendence. It is only this "being there for others," maintained till death, that is the ground of his omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. Faith is participation in this being of Jesus (incarnation, cross, resurrection)." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"Go into all the world and preach the Gospel ..." Jesus
'
"The church is the church only when it exists for others...The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling, what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

One of the tragedies of the Church in our present age goes directly to its faithfulness and fruitfulness.  That is the tragedy of the Church's inward-focus.  Too many churches organize their life around taking care of one another--but the result is that they give only lip service to the needs of "others."

Too many churches possess a fortress mentality, intentionally creating barriers that keep the world from getting to close for their comfort.  That desire for comfort blunts the call to sacrificial servanthood that is at the heart of Christ's Great Commission.

As a result these churches lose their transcendence as there is no attempt to embody the love of Christ in the midst of a world where God is too often out of sight an out of mind.  There is no costly discipleship by which the church matures and validates the supernatural power of God.  There is no resurrection life because there has never been a death to the old "religious" ways that made them feel like good people, instead of being God's people.

The Church's true impact, authentic identity, and God-honoring purpose can only be found when it becomes a "church for others.":

(C) 2013 by Stephen L Dunn

MAKING MISTAKES

Mike Breen is the leader of a passionate and effective missional leadership ministry called 3DM.  A year ago I was privileged to attend one of his training sessions in Pawley's Island SC about building a discipleship culture.  The following was an excellent post from 2012 in his blog.

Are making mistakes part of your process?

One of the exercises we frequently have leaders do in our Learning Communities is to perform a SWOT analysis of their church community as it currently is. We have them identify where they are currently experiencing Breakthrough, Frustration, Battle and Failure.

It might not come as a galloping surprise that when it comes to owning failure, my culture observation is that Americans view it as a certain kind of kryptonite these days. Many of the leaders leave this area blank or put in a pretty tepid response to it like “We love people too much.” Clearly this is an admission of nothing.

But here is what I’d like to throw out there: If you haven’t had any big failures or mistakes happen lately in your ministry, one of two things is happening. Either you’re choosing not to risk anything and you’re playing it safe, or you’re not being honest with yourself.

I’m not sure I see a lot of wiggle room on that one.

The problem is that somewhere along the way, Americans surrendered a bit of their grounding identity. Remember, America is known around the world as The Great Experiment. And key to any experiment is an acknowledgment that this particular experiment could fail. This is the land of Edison and his thousands of failed light bulbs. Of Steve Jobs and his early flameout and removal from Apple…the company he himself had founded! Of Lebron James and one of the most epic meltdowns in all of NBA Finals history. Yet each of these men would go on to claim that the turning point was the failure itself. Woven into this culture is the belief that failure is but a stepping stone towards what is to come. Experience (and the failure and mistakes that go with it) is always the best teacher. It’s not failure for failure’s sake; it’s learning how to do new things well because we made mistakes along the way to that goal.

Yet I frequently see American pastors now playing it safe, or glossing over failure so as to look more successful. Along the way, that which is good in this culture (it’s ability to be entrepreneurial) clashed with a darker part of the culture: The desire to be approved of for being successful.

So when I look at the American church, I often see people who want to be successful so badly, they won’t do the things necessary to see real Kingdom breakthrough: Going to places that are unfamiliar, being weak so his power is made strong, where mistakes and failure is understood as part of any process worth having.

There are two things I think we must face. First, our often conflicting motivation of doing things so we’ll be seen as successful. Second, the things we won’t do, the chances or risks we won’t take, for fear of failure or mistakes.

In the Bible we find a set of books littered with the mistakes and failures of great women and men who became great because of what was shaped in them through the Holy Spirit in their mis-steps.
Why should we be any different?

TEN STEPS TO DEAL WITH INWARD DRIFT

One of the tougher realities is that established church tend to drift towards and inward focus. Even churches that have embraced an outward focus can after several years, and if there is any loss of momentum, begin drifting inward.  Thom Rainer has come excellent counsel on how to deal with this dynamic. - STEVE

On my blog earlier this week, I noted some of the signs of internal drift in established churches. I noted that an established church could be any congregation that has existed for three or more years. The church has developed certain patterns or traditions while simultaneously forgetting its original purpose and passion.
By almost any metric, the majority of North American congregations are established churches. They often include discouraged leaders and frustrated members. Conflict in these churches is often normative.
So how does a church move from an inward drift to an outward focus? Though I provide ten succinct steps, I do not want to leave the reader with a false impression. I am not suggesting that these steps are necessarily sequential, nor am I suggesting that they are a quick-fix for any and every congregation.

1. Find a small group of trusted members who will commit to pray for the church every day. Ask them to pray specifically for the church to move from an inward focus to an outward focus. More praying members can be added to the number at any time. The key is simply to get some people praying daily for the church.
2. Commit to love the church members unconditionally. They may not always be loveable. But love is a conscious choice. Leaders can make that decision regardless of how the members respond.
3. The pastor must be willing to stay with the church through and beyond the changes that will take place. The pastor cannot make unequivocal promises about his tenure. Still, he should have a commitment not only to lead the church through the changes toward an outward focus, but to remain with the church to deal with the impact of the changes. Too many leaders make changes and then leave the congregation to deal with the unintended consequences of the changes.
4. Begin leading members to do hands-on, outwardly focused ministries. It may be something as simple as delivering a welcome basket to new residents. It may only involve a few members initially. The idea is to get members focused on the needs of others rather than their own preferences.
5. Begin casting an outwardly focused vision. After a number of members are involved in ministering to others, they will become receptive and even eager to embrace a vision to reach and minister beyond themselves. Begin to paint a word picture of what a true Great Commission church could look like.
6. Avoid attacking “sacred cows” if possible. There are traditions and other areas of the church that many members hold dearly. It might not make sense to the leaders why they hold onto a seemingly silly item, but the reality is that it has deep emotional attachments for some. Attacking those sacred cows usually creates unnecessary conflict and takes the focus off the outward focus.
7. Celebrate small victories. In the early stages of turnaround, celebrate almost any victory toward an outward focus, regardless of its overall impact on the congregation. That will send a message of what is really a priority in the church.
8. Keep reasonable metrics. Many churches have moved away from focusing on metrics such as attendance, conversions, and people involved in ministry for fear that the statistics will become ends in themselves. But a reasonable focus on some of those metrics will be a regular reminder of the progress the church is making toward becoming a Great Commission church.
9. Learn to deal with criticism in a healthy manner. Any leader moving an organization toward change will be the recipient of criticisms. Some criticism is worth heeding. Some can be discarded or ignored. But the leader must learn not to respond in anger or to seek retaliation. Most critics are hurt or nervous about the changes that are being made. Many of them just need a listening ear.
10. Raise the membership bar. Require all new members to go through a new members’ class. Raise the bar of expectation in that class. Let them know that their membership is not in a social club, but a church that is committed to reach its community and the world. These new members must understand that their membership is a commitment to be a part of that mission.

Leading an established church toward an outward focus is like eating an elephant. You can eat only one bite at a time. Progress may seem painfully slow.
But the process is worth all the toil, pain, and prayers. In many cases, the old staid church transforms into a dynamic Great Commission force. We have tens of thousands of established churches in America, many of them with members who have little hope for the future of their congregations. We need leaders and members who will no longer accept the status quo. The challenge is indeed great; but the reward of seeing a church become transformational is incalculable.

Pastor to Pastor is the Saturday blog series at ThomRainer.com. Pastors and staff, if we can help in any way, contact Steve Drake, our director of pastoral relations, at Steve.Drake@LifeWay.com. We also welcome contacts from laypersons in churches asking questions about pastors, churches, or the pastor search process.

Thom Rainer is the president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. Prior to LifeWay, he served at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for twelve years where he was the founding dean of the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of Alabama and earned his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

15 SIGNS YOUR CHURCH IS IN TROUBLE

From Perry Noble comes these 15 measures for self-evaluation as a church that particularly apply to the call to be an outward-focused church. - STEVE

BY PERRY NOBLE

1. When excuses are made about the way things are instead of embracing a willingness to roll up the sleeves and fix the problem.
2. When the church becomes content with merely receiving people that come rather than actually going out and finding them…in other words, they lose their passion for evangelism!
3. The focus of the church is to build a great church (complete with the pastor's picture…and his wife’s…on everything) and not the Kingdom of God.
4. The leadership begins to settle for the natural rather than rely on the supernatural.
5. The church begins to view success/failure in regards to how they are viewed in the church world rather than whether or not they are actually fulfilling the Great Commission!
6. The leaders within the church cease to be coachable.
7. There is a loss of a sense of urgency!  (Hell is no longer hot, sin is no longer wrong, and the cross is no longer important!)
8. Scripture isn’t central in every decision that is made!
9. The church is reactive rather than proactive.
10. The people in the church lose sight of the next generation and refuse to fund ministry simply because they don’t understand “those young people.”
11. The goal of the church is to simply maintain the way things are…to NOT rock the boat and/or upset anyone…especially the big givers!
12. The church is no longer willing to take steps of faith because “there is just too much to lose.”
13. The church simply does not care about the obvious and immediate needs that exist in the community.
14. The people learn how to depend on one man to minister to everyone rather than everyone embracing their role in the body, thus allowing the body to care for itself.
15. When the leaders/staff refuse to go the extra mile in leading and serving because of how “inconvenient” doing so would be.  

10 FROM JOHN BURKE

JOHN BURKE
10 Lessons, from John

Creating something out of nothing is challenging, but this is the only way we can really see the culture become the church. I want to see people grow and be unified as a church, but I always want to start with those who are not the church, with the culture around us, relationally connecting life-by-life.

These 10 lessons I’ve learned have been how God has change lives, that in turn impacted a neighborhood, and now influence a city and the world:

1. People Matter Enough to be Reminded
Realize that it’s not about you – it’s about a world that’s on a slide going south away from God. If you forget that, you’ll take things personally. Remember that good things don’t just naturally happen. People left alone don’t tend to seek God. People left alone don’t tend to stretch themselves to grow in faith or stretch to give money and time to those less-fortunate. It takes energy. As a leader, part of that energy is to remind people.

2. Never Waste a Gathering
No matter what the gathering is for – serve kids, have a party, small group, bike ride, or building houses – pay attention to not wasting it. Have fun first. Create life and people will want to come back. Cast vision and orient people to what they can expect. Always give next-steps. Every gathering is about connecting to community, but people need steps along the way.

3. Tell Stories to Shape Values
A story tells everybody “this is who we are and this is what matters.”

4. Connect Others Constantly
Give people enough time, and they’ll want to hang with their group and forget new people. Watch for people who might be feeling left out at every gathering. People feel valued and loved as people take interest in them.

5. Don’t Be Afraid to Have a Big “Ask”
Challenge people to grow spiritually. Many times God’s spirit prompts us but we “do the person a favor” by saying “no” for them. We’re potentially closing someone off from a life with God. That’s not a favor. You have to overcome that fear and make big asks.

6. Serve Well Together
Getting people serving creates ownership. When you serve together serve well.

7. Be Generous with Praise and Encouragement
You can’t hire enough people to do all the work. You need volunteers. Generous praise and encouragement is how you pay them.

8. Ask “Who’s Next, What’s Next?”
You’re only as strong as your next new leader, so always be looking for the “relative” leaders – the ones giving a little bit more. Sometimes their lives are messy. Think about how to help them take next steps of growth.

9. If Your Unchurched Friends and Neighbors are not Becoming the Church, You’re Ineffective
This is one of my most significant lessons. If people are not becoming the church — and LEADING the church – within 3 to 5 years, you’re not being effective. When you start to see this happen, when you the church being raised up out of culture, just as it happened in Corinth, Athens, Rome. That’s exciting!

10. Don’t Do This Without God (It’s His mission, your adventure)
This is really the first one. This is His mission and your adventure. You can’t do this without God.

BRIAN KAUFFMAN ON INWARDLY FOUSED CHURCHES

1) An Inwardly-Focused Church Makes Converts Not Disciples

Matt Chandler made this point during his Ultimate Authority series.  A world full of converts is like a little kid sitting in his daddy’s truck holding the wheel and making engine noises as the he sits idle in the driveway.  An inwardly-focused church is concerned more with the numbers of those saved by the existence of that very church (i.e. look how fantastic we are).  What if the church announced the number of new disciples alongside the number of salvations?  Would there still be a feeling of celebration in the room?  Don’t get me wrong, I recognize that there is a need for celebration when people are welcomed into the Kingdom – my point is that Jesus commands us to mobilize, evangelize and teach.

2) An Inwardly-Focused Church Lives and Dies by Sunday

Are the majority of the church’s decisions heavily skewed towards Sunday?  If so the church might be more concerned with the production of the service than the promotion of the Gospel … and perhaps furthermore its own vision statement.  I don’t really find examples of any church within the Bible making reference to Sunday as “Go time.”  Perhaps I’m wrong on this point, but, a church that has allowed the Sunday services to consume the majority of financial & human resources is one that is structurally equivalent to a Nissan Pathfinder – top heavy.  And at some point we will begin to sacrifice the risk of mission for the logistics of production.

3) An Inwardly-Focused Church Offers Multiple Styles of Worship

This one is difficult, so bear with me for a moment.  Is our God traditional or contemporary, emergent or conservative, Catholic or Lutheran*?  In my opinion multiple worship styles communicate one thing very clearly, “We are not sure what kind of church we are but we want to appeal to a broad audience.” My issue here is not with specific styles of worship, it is with specific styles of worship under one roof.
In my opinion multiple worship services/styles are confusing and further promote an Enlightenment-era philosophy in which our personal comfort and preference supersedes the reality of the Great Commission and cross of Christ.  If you’ve got the resources and vision to do multiple styles of worship perhaps the strategy needs to be rethought?  For example, perhaps a new style of worship could be saturated in a church plant located closer to the demographic which responds to that certain style?
There are a lot of very large and rapidly-growing churches that produce multiple worship services and would probably argue well against this point.  Admittedly, and to the frustration of my wife, I tend to over-simplify some things as black or white.  Can we still be friends?
*As a side note, I do struggle with the obsession over denomination as it relates to our identity in Christ and our fixation on subjective righteousness, but that is for another article.

4) An Inwardly-Focused Church Hides It’s Checkbook

A church afraid to talk about money is denying people the chance to be challenged out of slavery and engage in worshipful generosity.  Likewise a church which conceals its own checkbook is denying the people confidence in the authority under which they have willingly agreed to be subjected.  An inwardly-focused church convicts its people with “Show me your checkbook and I’ll show you your heart…” but shy’s away from being subject to the same philosophy.
Do you know what your pastor makes? Do you know the percentage breakdown of where your dollar goes?  Does your church provide regular updates to the financial mission of the church and/or annual financial reports? Is giving communicated as a joyful acts of worship or a necessary means to keep the lights on?

5) An Inwardly-Focused Church Holds On Tight

Have you ever seen a little kid with all his stuffed animals playing on the floor? He seems peaceful and content … until another little kid comes and tries to play too.  What usually happens? The kid will put his arms around all the stuffed animals and say, “mine!”  That’s kind of how I picture a competitive church.  The popular idea of “closing the back door” deals with the challenge of keeping people in the church – their church – regardless of that person’s desire to sacrificially engage or parasitically consume.  This parallels my first point about making converts not disciples.  What if a local church’s vision was to kick the back-door wide open as people go out into the world?  To promote a culture which causes tension in those that constantly take from the church is to risk a roster of attendance for the sake of a congregation on mission.
Suddenly, we’re not concerned with what the 5 other churches are doing with their fall series.  We don’t have conversations that involve a phrase like “stealing our people.”  We don’t hold onto our people as though we are offended if they choose not to stay.  We create a healthy environment of people  committed to the local church’s vision.  It is a culture saturated with people who willingly lead the charge and stand in the gap.
I recently attended a church conference where the room was packed with pastors from all over the Phoenix area.  I later had conversations with some others that also attended and one thing we all recognized was the unspoken tension among local churches.  It was kind of like a bunch of gangs all wearing their colors but coming together for one purpose.  Our faith and mission bind us, but our pride creates boundaries that if crossed could result in territorial warfare.  It was both ironic and disturbing.  Any West Side Story fans out there?

Conclusion

This list is nowhere near exhaustive but my hope is that it begins a larger discussion within church leadership as we move forward with the Gospel, let the cross be our focus and the Great Commission to be our ultimate decision filter.  I am not isolated from the ideas above but instead include myself whole-heartedly as a prideful sinner in need of divine perspective and grace as often as a heartbeat.

For mote from Brian Kauffman and his blog SHRINK THE CHURCH go to ...

6 SIGNS YOUR CHURCH IS STUCK IN "WALMART THINKING"

From the archives of THE CLARITY EVANGELIST, a site that has often helped me in my own leadership.

March 17th, 2010

6 Signs that Your Church is Stuck in “Walmart Thinking”

It happens every week. I talk to church leaders who think the answer to reaching more people with the gospel and growing more people toward Christ-like maturity  is adding more ministry stuff.  You name it: more staff, more programs, more events, more buildings, more, more, more. I call it “Walmart thinking” because the basic strategy is to put more stuff on the shelf in hoping to attract more people. 

The good news is that when the “7-day-a-week-church” strategy that worked in the 80s rolls around again, your church will be ready!

Here are the six signs that your church is suffering from this “more is more” deception:
#1 The church is stuck thinking that more programs translates to more life change
#2 The church is deceived by the myth that people want more choices
#3  The church inadvertently thinks that time at church equals spiritual maturity
#4 The church can’t say no to their peoples’ ideas even when the ideas are ineffective
#5 The church allows immature, knowledge-centered spirituality to dictate program offerings
#6 The church contains more religious consumers than growing followers of Jesus

Never forget the cardinal rule of being the church on mission: Programs don’t attract people, people attract people. Most likely your church doesn’t need more things to do. It needs a few things it must do, defined by a clear, simple strategy. This post is adapted from page 150 of Church Unique.

IT'S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY'S COMING

An outward-focused church is a church living in expectation that God's resurrection power will be demonstrated as they live on mission for Jesus out in the community. An outward-focused church never dwells on the bad news that pervades the present, but on the good news of the Kingdom.  An outward-focused church is an Easter people and "Hallelujah!" is their song.

Many years ago I heard Tony Campolo share a message that he has often repeated in many settings.  It's a message that should remind us of the tremendous power of the Spirit that is at work in and through us.  Every once in a while, we just need to be reminded.

SUPER COMPETENT

Productivity expert Laura Stack entitled SuperCompetent.  Laura has identified six key attitudes or mindsets of people she says are 'supercompetent'. I have been learning and re-learning these lessons for more than 35 years in ministry.  For the leaders of outward-focused churches, these are an excellent reminder. - Steve


Key 1: Activity. They are driven by intense focus on priorities and have a clear sense of direction.
Action: You need to determine what you should be working on.

Key 2: Availability. They control their schedules.
Action: You need to make time for it.

Key 3: Attention. They develop the ability to pay attention to the task at hand.
Action: You need to focus on those tasks.

Key 4: Accessibility. They are organized and can locate the information they need to support their activities.
Action: You need to organize the information you need to complete your tasks.

Key 5: Accountability. They are self-disciplined and don’t blame others.
Action: You need to be responsible for your results.

Key 6: Attitude. They do what needs to be done to make things happen. They are proactive decisive and fast.
Action: You never give up.

Read more ...

TWO QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION FOR OUTWARD-FOCUSED CHURCHES

Many of us were blessed last week to a part of Catalyst East and/or Catalyst One-Day in Lynchburg VA.  Andy Stanley shared many thoughts, but here are two that I'd like to reflect upon with you.


 One of the reasons churches see in decline is because they love their model more than the unchurched and unsaved-Andy Stanley 

Outward-focused churches are churches that look outward towards the people who are not yet a part of the church and the Kingdom.  It is not so much a strategy as a calling fueled by a passion.  Lost people matter to God and therefore to them because they are God's people--His instrument for reaching the lost. Andy also said, "Your ministry is perfectly designed to achieve the results you are currently getting."  


Can I get an "Ouch!" here?


Churches develop models to achieve the mission they are given from God.  But too often our models become more important than our mission.  Models make us comfortable, protecting us from the chaos that develops in ministry.  God keeps pushing us out of those comfort zones because He knows that our models can easily stop listening to the needs of the communities we are trying to reach -- and to Him.


If your model has grown predictable, somewhat inflexible ... and you have been using for a long time unchanged except for an occasional tweaking, it may have already taken over.

"Sometimes we cannot give to the people in need just because we spend too much in something we don't need."- Andy Stanley


This can refer to financial resources, people's time and spiritual gifts.  Does our model help us achieve both faithful to and fruitfulness in our mission, or does the model sap off strength from the primary task of reaching our community and reconciling people to God?


The first statement calls us to evaluate our heart. The second to evaluate our effectiveness. Both are well worth the prayerful effort regularly.

IDEAS FOR CHURCH GROWTH FROM A COMEDIAN'S POINT OF VIEW

WHAT WOULD JESUS TELL?

Ragamuffin Soul is a thoughtful and sometimes provocative blog published by worship pastor, Carlos Whittaker. I got turned onto it by Brett Sarver, our missionary/church planter in Thailand.  Carlos published an interesting question this past week:

If Jesus walked into your church this Sunday morning…
I know, you think He is already there, we all do…
What would Jesus tell you He DID NOT LOVE about what was happening?
What would Jesus tell you He LOVED about what was happening?

As I publish this, he has had 38 comments. My favorite is:    

“I love what you have done with the place but if you need me I will be out in Ely Square.”
read “Ely Square” as the hungry, needy, lost, and homeless. 

Read more at:  COMMENTS

For the readers of THE OUTWARD FOCUSED CHURCH, I'd like to hear your thoughts on that question. - Steve
 

WHY GO TO CHURCH - MAC VS PC

LOST PEOPLE MATTER TO GOD

“Lost people matter to God.”

I still remember Bill Hybels utter that phrase back in the 1980′s, as I watched him on tape providing the scriptural and motivational foundation for doing the work of evangelism. Famously building upon the three parables found in Luke 15, Hybels reminded us that we should never consider anything more important than helping reconcile people to God. In the ensuing two decades I have heard many a pastor, from prominent podiums to small, almost unnoticed pulpits; echo Hybels’ words.

The natural inference from that statement is that “Lost people ought to matter to God’s people.” In 39 years of ministry, I have no doubt that lost people matter to God; but I deeply question whether lost people matter to God’s people. Oh, on an intellectual level when we are trying to be theologically correct, we will all say that lost people matter to us. Our actions and our attitudes put the lie to such assertions.

1. Do we really believe that people are lost without Christ? Christian Smith has coined the phrase “moralistic, therapeutic deism” to describe what passes for the gospel in many churches today. The moralistic dimension affirms that people really can be right with God (and spend eternity with Him) if we are simply good enough. Goodness has been substituted for holiness and so we seem to believe most people who try hard enough will earn a passing score. Or we operate from some deep conviction that a loving God would never make us live with the consequences of choosing sin over His love. The Cross may make great jewelry but it is optional in terms of salvation.

2. We act as if the already persuaded are more important than the yet to be persuaded. Too many Christians and too many churches take care of themselves first, giving it the bulk of their time, their passion, their attention, their resources. Evangelism gets what’s left over. And Heaven forbid we step out of our ministry or worship comfort zones to make the Gospel accessible to those who do not yet know Jesus.

3. We celebrate birthdays but barely speak of New Birth. Maybe that’s because we have more birthdays than New Births. We make elaborate provisions to celebrate one more year on this planet but rarely make any provision for a person experiencing the first year of their eternal life on this planet. In fact, we grieve when someone forgets to give us a gift for another year of being “absent from the Lord”, but seem unperturbed when the gift of eternal life goes unclaimed.

Do you have a plan for building redemptive relationships with people so you might help them become reconciled to God? Or are you too busy with work, church programs, and personal trivial pursuits to give the lost a real priority? Does your church have a strategy for going and sharing the Good News with those who do not yet know Jesus? Or are you too busy with bake sales, class parties, prayer meetings, making the church’s trains run on time?

Lost people matter to God.

Lost people should matter to God’s people.

Would your priorities and actions reflect that?

Posted by Dr Steve Dunn, Lead Pastor at the Landisville Church of God and Chairperson of the Commission on Evangelism of the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God.

MISSIONAL MADNESS?

Will Mancini, on his blog The Clarity Evangelist shares an interesting thought.

#2 The most acceptable idol in ministry today is missional service. This idea was stirred by a comment by Matt Chandler. I will paraphrase it: “Transformation comes through our relationship to Jesus, not through our engagement in mission.” Anytime good things happen in the name of Jesus, the good thing can eclipse Jesus. Right now, altruism is in and much activity is happening in the name of “external focus,” “missional communities” and social justice. Let’s beware of thinking too highly of our own goodness or allowing the Martha in us to work out the Mary in us.

Read more at Mancini